Page 69 of Stealing Home

Our conversation yesterday was short. I didn’t want to worry them, so I left out getting injured.

“You aren’t drinking again are you?” my dad asks. “I’m not judging, but there are better ways to cope with heartbreak.”

“I’m not drinking. I haven’t had a drop for months. Not that it was a problem to stop, I could see how it could become addictive for a lot of people. I’m not able to drive because I got hit with a ball at the game. It’s a hip pointer injury, and it hurts too much to use my right leg to walk, let alone drive that far.”

“You never said anything,” my dad says softly.

“I was taking care of it,” I said.

“I’d like to speak to Harlow when we come this weekend,” my dad states.

I scoff. “No way in hell would I bring her in for the inquisition. Besides, I need to get her to talk to me before you corner her.”

“It’s hard for your dad and I to recognize that you’ve grown up. If you’d like for us to hold off on our visit, we can do that. We’ll try and have an open mind, but this is a hard concept for us to get our heads around,” my mom says.

“Yeah, give me a week. I’m going to try and convince her I’m not cheating. Thank you mom.”

“I didn’t say we’d support this relationship, just that we’d keep an open mind,” she points out.

“For now, that’s good enough. I’ll worry about it if I can get her to talk to me.”

* * *

Tucker comesout moments after I hang up the phone with my parents. “Well, Ryan, I hope Harlow is worth all this.”

“I’m not losing anything. At least, not if I can get her back. She’s the only thing that matters to me.”

“The team might have your back right now, but you need to prepare yourself for that to change. With Chase on the mound, opposing teams are going to get a lot more runs. And they’ll get them without Ortiz on first base and Reynolds in right field. That means we’re going to have three of our backup players filling in. We’re going to lose, a lot. Your teammates might turn on you if that happens. Then there’s the fact that Rivera is going to continue to make their lives a living hell because he’s a petty dickhead who can’t emotionally regulate himself.”

“I’ll worry about that if I get back on the team.”

He narrows his eyes and leans forward regarding me closer. “You don’t seem too bothered by being off the team. The university knows what they have in you. Rivera doesn’t have the authority to remove your scholarship or fire me. You’ll be back on the team, but when is the issue. If we don’t get you back on by the time you’re cleared to play again, the season might not be able to be saved. Scouts aren’t going to come out to watch you lose.”

I shrug. “You already know about Harlow, so I might as well tell you one of my other secrets. I have no intention of entering the draft. I’m actually graduating at the end of this term. I took AP classes in high school, so I’m technically a senior credit wise.”

Tucker pulls his hat off his head and slaps it in his hand. “Well, shit. And you can just walk away from all that? The fame, the money? I know enough about you to know you don’t care about the women. But, son, that’s a lot of money to just turn your back on. You’ve got the talent to get a huge signing bonus.”

“I don’t want fame. In fact I can’t think of anything worse than trying to live my life in the public eye,” I say.

“I have a couple buddies from college that went pro. One of them stayed in the minors, and the other played a couple years in the MLB. He said you get used to it. Yeah, the attention is a bit much, but not as bad as an actor or musician. The money makes the loss of privacy worth it, especially if you plan well and don’t overspend. You could be set for the rest of your life,” he argues.

I sigh. He’s not going to let this go unless he knows everything. “It wouldn’t be worth it to me, because I don’t need the money.”

He scoffs. “Ryan, I know your parents are comfortable, but we’re talking millions of dollars here.”

“My parents aren’t just comfortable, they’re rich. I have a very healthy trust fund. It might not be the obscene amounts of money that pro players get, but I’ve got a job lined up after I graduate with Anderson Global, so I won’t be hurting with the salary I’m starting out at. Plus, I get to keep my privacy.”

Tucker starts laughing so hard he bends at the waist. He gasps between barks of laughter. It takes him a couple minutes, but he’s finally able to get his laughter under control. He straightens up and wipes tears off his face. “That dumb son of a bitch. All Rivera cares about is winning and getting more donations to the program, and by kicking you out he just guaranteed he’d lose on both fronts.”

I shift my weight onto my left leg and grimace. It takes some of the pressure off my hip, but my body is not happy with me for sleeping on the bathroom floor last night.

“You really shouldn’t be up yet. Did you drive here today?” he asks.

“No, Will drove since Max is down an arm and I’m down a leg basically. But I should have thought about getting kicked out of practice and being stranded here.”

Tucker digs in his pocket for his keys and jingles them in front of him. “Let me give you a ride then. I’ve got to go see if I can meet with the athletic director.”

I stare at my phone the entire ride back to my house. When I get in, I realize this place isn’t my home anymore. There are too many bad memories, but most of all, Harlow isn’t here. I try and call her, but my phone goes straight to voicemail. I don’t know how I’m going to get her back if she won’t even talk to me.

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